An Implementation Plan for Bio-Indicator Monitoring in support of Integrated Coastal Management in the U.S. Virgin Islands

by Hutchins, Aaron

Abstract (Summary)

Regulation and management of coastal systems is often compartmentalized into
three broad categories: resource extraction (e.g. fisheries), coastal development, and
pollution control. In the US Virgin Islands, the existing monitoring and research regimes
dealing with coastal water quality, coral reef assessment, and fisheries management all
have convergent goals of assessing and protecting coastal habitats. The methodologies
and data analysis provided by these existing monitoring and research regimes are often
incompatible as they are inherently designed to answer individual resource management
or research questions associated with the regulatory program of interest.
Environmental indicators are selected key statistics that represent or summarize a
significant aspect of the state of the environment, natural resource suitability and related
human activities (Vendermeulen, 1998). The application of biological indicators or bioindicators,
as a tool for monitoring and assessing ecological integrity within key coastal
systems is an emerging trend in natural resources management in the Caribbean. Bioindicators
offer a signal of the biological condition within an ecosystem. Their
application as an early indication of pollution or degradation in an ecosystem can help
sustain critical resources (Dulcie and Warner, 2003). The most common bio-indicator
programs found throughout the Caribbean are most often associated with coral reef
monitoring programs. Coral reef monitoring programs are inherently bio-indicator
monitoring programs as they principally measure a range of biological conditions and
their changes over time.
The US Virgin Islands has no overall coastal habitat and protection strategy that
integrates the individual coastal monitoring and assessment programs historically or
currently existing in the territory. The territory s environmental assessment and
regulatory authority, the Department of Planning and Natural Resources, has recently
undergone significant growth and expansion with its monitoring and assessment
capabilities with support from various federal agencies and directives from new federal
mandates. The opportunity now exists and warrants the creation of a comprehensive
coastal and marine habitat monitoring and assessment program with a common goal of
the preservation of ecological integrity. This would increase departmental efficiency and
provide a solid mechanism for achieving a key component in the Department s overall
mission and Five Year Strategic Plan (DPNR, 2000) along with addressing goals of the
Department s Multi-Year Monitoring Strategy (DPNR, 2001). This approach would
ultimately provide quantitative assessment tools allowing policy makers and program
managers to more accurately track the preservation efforts and, over time, tailor their
actions for the greatest effect. The integration of coastal management will be further
enhanced by identifying common programmatic goals and streamlining field
methodologies and monitoring station distribution where practicable.